The share of US adults currently taking GLP-1 medications for weight loss has climbed to 11% in 2026, up from 3% in 2024, according to a July 7 Gallup poll.
The rise arrives just as CMS launched its Medicare GLP-1 Bridge program July 1, offering select beneficiaries fixed-cost access to GLP-1 drugs including Foundayo, Wegovy and Zepbound through Dec. 31, 2027, with manufacturers providing the drugs at a net price of $245 per month, of which beneficiaries pay $50 and CMS covers $195. Demand has also accelerated on the retail side, with the Wegovy pill’s January launch netting more than 2 million prescriptions within months, in what may have been the fastest drug launch in US history.
The growth has also reshaped drug spending broadly, with the US prescription drug market projected to exceed $1 trillion for the first time in 2026, driven largely by GLP-1s, which accounted for 14% of US drug spending last year.
Here are six things to know from the poll:
- Fifteen percent of US adults report having used a GLP-1 medication for weight loss at some point, up nine percentage points from 2024. Awareness of the drugs has also grown, with 91% of Americans now aware of GLP-1s intended for weight loss, up from 80% two years ago.
- The US adult obesity rate has dropped to 36.4% so far in 2026 after peaking at 39.9% in 2022, a decline Gallup said continues to inversely track with rising GLP-1 use. Diabetes diagnosis rates, meanwhile, have held steady since 2023 after 15 years of gradual increases.
- Brand-name GLP-1s such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound account for 68% of current use, while 19% of users take a compounded or custom-mixed version not approved by the FDA. Twelve percent are unsure which type they use.
- Compounded or custom-mixed users report slightly higher effectiveness than brand-name users, with 39% calling their medication “extremely effective” compared with 32% of brand-name users. About three-quarters of each group rated their drug effective or extremely effective.
- Movement toward compounded versions appears to be accelerating. Thirty-five percent of current compounded users switched from a brand-name drug, compared with only 10% of brand-name users who switched from a compounded version. Those switching to compounded drugs were about twice as likely to cite cost or insurance coverage as their reason (66% vs. 34%).
- Gallup said the broader, lower-cost availability of compounded GLP-1s, even though still limited, may be a key driver of the overall rise in usage, and that GLP-1 use has generally tracked with declining obesity rates across age groups, except among adults 65 and older, who report lower effectiveness.
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